Chaos in Novi Sad: Gendarmerie torture continues

(Patria) - Gendarmerie members repeatedly used brute force yesterday against citizens of Novi Sad who are protesting organized rallies of regime supporters brought in by bus to city districts.

In an attempt to prevent citizens from peacefully expressing their protest, police and gendarmerie members pushed, beat, and arrested citizens.

They beat Novi Sad residents with batons, fists, and feet and dispersed them from the intersection of Kornelije Stankovića and Janko Čmelik streets.

Previously, at the beginning of the gathering, they also very roughly pushed citizens down Kornelije Stankovića street because they approached SNS supporters.

They identified the Storyteller journalist Brankica Matić because she refused to falsely testify that she had witnessed inappropriate behavior by a citizen.

A gendarmerie member previously snatched the phone from Beta and Autonomija journalist Dalibor Stupar and chased him away while he was filming the gatherings of pro-regime supporters.

"A gendarmerie member snatched my phone and chased me away while I was filming them arresting a citizen. I said I wasn't disturbing anything and that I was standing alone in an empty space. Then they took me behind the cordon and returned my phone. Even though I was wearing a yellow vest and journalistic insignia, and even though I told him I was a journalist, he said he didn't care about anything and that I had no right to 'disturb the proceedings'," Dalibor Stupar recounted.

One of the gendarmes kicked the bicycle of an N1 portal journalist after she introduced herself as a journalist and showed her ID.

For hours, the gendarmerie and police intervened roughly against citizens in Novi Sad who were opposing rallies of regime supporters, and a police officer also chased away a person dressed as a protest mascot from a street.

"Novi Sad fights against thugs with humor, they have no answer to that," students blocking the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad stated on social media.

At one point, the police also chased children away from a playground.

Several people were very roughly pushed, beaten with batons, their scooters and bicycles were thrown, and citizens were not allowed to block intersections and prevent buses with organized regime supporters from passing, reports Autonomija.info.

There were dozens of buses in the city, by which supporters of Vučić's regime were brought to Novi Sad in an organized manner.

Citizens threw eggs at some of the buses and chanted "Whoever doesn't jump is a thug".